Sushi Shop, founded in France in 1998, offers diners sushi that blends French gastronomic cuisine and Japanese heritage. Already tremendously popular in France, Sushi Shop has now made its way over the channel to bring its unique take on sushi to London.
Every year Sushi Shop has run partnerships with eminent chefs, including Thierry Marx, Jean-François Piege and Joël Robuchon, aiming to bring the essence and quality of such chefs to a wider audience. This year, Sushi Shop has paired with Kei Kobayashi, owner of KEI in Paris, which in 2012 was awarded a Michelin star. Together Kei and the head chefs at Sushi Shop have devised a special menu balancing Japanese tradition and western-style sushi.
One of the signature dishes at KEI is a crunchy vegetable salad which has been reimagined into a Red Miso Cucumber Salad. Not normally one to choose a salad when sushi is on offer this will be an exception to our rule! Crunchy peanut mixes perfectly with the sweet and sour flavour of the salad, thanks to the red miso and yuzu, and has a little kick of chili to finish.
The Garden Maki (with rocket, carrot, cucumber and red miso among other ingredients) relies on the freshness of the vegetables to provide the satisfying crunch you would expect in the centre of this piece.
The Salmon Gravlax Roll, also a reinterpretation of one of KEI’s signature dishes, combines melt-in-the-mouth gravlax salmon with carrot, cucumber and white turnip with a black olive tapenade sauce to add just the right amount of saltiness.
Our personal favourite however, was also the most unusual. The Gyu Special Roll puts beef centre stage, something we haven’t had before. Treated to a demonstration into making this roll by head chef Pierre Boudy, the thinly sliced beef is laid on top of the roll then lightly seared and covered in teriyaki sauce. As well as being very impressive to witness, this was a roll we will not forget anytime soon!
All of Kei’s special creations are available at each Sushi Shop location now alongside the new menu for 2017. With three locations and delivery available, lunchtime sushi seems like a good idea to us!